Culture Vulture + Awards and prizes | The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog+awards-and-prizes
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Summer scenehttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2006/jul/18/summerscene
<p><br>Told stories: Alan Bennett was the star<br> of the PEN summer party.</p><p><em>Clemency Burton-Hill glugged Pimms and hobnobbed with London's literati at the PEN summer party...and chatted with the tweedy winner of this year's JR Akerley prize for autobiography.</em></p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2006/jul/18/summerscene">Continue reading...</a>Awards and prizesBooksCultureTue, 18 Jul 2006 09:42:39 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2006/jul/18/summersceneGuardian Staff2006-07-18T09:42:39ZParadise foundhttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2006/may/30/paradisefound
<p><em>Le Prince Maurice prize for a literary love story has been <a href="http://books.theguardian.com/news/articles/0,,1785148,00.html">awarded</a>... presented by a Hollywood star after a week of judging on the tropical island of Mauritius. It's a strange but glorious experience, writes Charlotte Mendelson, who accompanied her partner, shortlisted author Joanna Briscoe, on the most luxurious literary beano in the world.</em></p><p>Le Prince Maurice Roman d'Amour is surely the most surreal of literary prizes. During the week of judging, at any point you might dive from a yacht with a famous broadcaster's teenage son, come across the children's laureate on a sun lounger, drink cocktails with pioneers of fusion food or exchange gossip with diplomats at tropical banquets. Then there are the highlights...</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2006/may/30/paradisefound">Continue reading...</a>Awards and prizesBooksMauritiusCultureWorld newsAfricaTue, 30 May 2006 12:36:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2006/may/30/paradisefoundJoanna Briscoe2006-05-30T12:36:00ZChildren's hourhttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2006/may/23/childrenshour
<p><br>Reading ground: Michael Morpurgo casts a spell over his audience at Great Ormond Street<br> <em>Yesterday, the former children's laureate, Michael Morpurgo, gave a reading to a group of children at Great Ormond Street Hospital. <strong>Dina Rabinovitch</strong> went along, and found herself in the presence of a genuine storyteller.</em></p><p>On a drizzly, damp afternoon at the height of this drought we're all living through, I crossed London to watch <a href="http://www.michaelmorpurgo.org/">Michael Morpurgo</a> meet a group of children at <a href="http://www.gosh.org/">Great Ormond Street Hospital</a>. On June 25, the Queen is hosting a <a href="http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page4814.asp">storybook party</a> in the garden at Buckingham Palace (so let's hope she knows something about the weather), and in advance of the big day, several children's authors are doing events round the country for those children who won't be at the palace.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2006/may/23/childrenshour">Continue reading...</a>Awards and prizesBooksCultureChildren's laureateTue, 23 May 2006 11:15:49 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2006/may/23/childrenshourGuardian Staff2006-05-23T11:15:49ZThe worst of timeshttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2006/may/09/theworstofti1
<p><br>Vital and controversial polemicist ...<br>Eric Hobsbawm<br>Photograph: Jane Bown</p><p>Are things getting more violent? The historian <a href="http://books.theguardian.com/departments/history/story/0,,791762,00.html">Eric Hobsbawm</a> thinks so, and in the first of a new series of public lectures at Birkbeck University he set out to discuss what, if anything, can be done about it. At the centre of Hobsbawm's argument is the idea that we live in "the age of violence", as demonstrated by acts ranging from street fighting to terrorism. The lecture attempted both to place this apparent escalation of violence into a historical context, and to explain why its current intensity is dangerously unique.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2006/may/09/theworstofti1">Continue reading...</a>Awards and prizesBooksCultureTue, 09 May 2006 08:40:50 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2006/may/09/theworstofti1Nick Tanner2006-05-09T08:40:50ZWords well weighedhttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2006/apr/27/heaneyblog
There's no getting away from it, Seamus Heaney is associated with bogs. With poems like 'Bogland', 'Bog Oak' and 'Bog Queen' behind him, it perhaps wouldn't have surprised the audience at the South Bank last week if a muddy, wet-haired Heaney had risen out of a small travel bog brought along specially for the purpose.<p><br>The view from the bog ...<br>Seamus Heaney<br>There's no getting away from it, Seamus Heaney is associated with bogs. With poems like Bogland, Bog Oak and Bog Queen behind him, it perhaps wouldn't have surprised the audience at the <a href="http://www.rfh.org.uk/main/literature/index.asp?week=">South Bank</a> last week if a muddy, wet-haired Heaney had risen out of a small travel bog brought along specially for the purpose. In the event, his hair was white and neat and he looked perfectly dry and in control as he took to the lectern to give the only London reading from <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0571230962/qid=1146131731/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/026-4686448-6671613">District and Circle</a>, his newest book and his eleventh collection of poetry.</p><p>The title poem sets the mood for the volume, a re-imagining of a tube ride in the sixties which explores both that time and more recent events. The description of commuters, "Blindsided to themselves and other bodies", travellers who wish the stillness "could have lasted", became at once Heaney's memory of the tube and a projection of the journeys on July 7th that didn't reach their destinations. This fusing of two time zones in a single setting was also deployed in Anahorish 1944, in which the inhabitants of Derry in 1944 merged with farmers in Afghanistan in 2002, both "killing pigs when the Americans arrived".</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2006/apr/27/heaneyblog">Continue reading...</a>PoetryAwards and prizesBooksCultureThu, 27 Apr 2006 10:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2006/apr/27/heaneyblogNick Tanner2006-04-27T10:00:00ZWho is Carrie Tiffany?https://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2006/apr/26/whoiscarriet
<p>So the Orange prize shortlist has been announced and truly it reads like a bookseller's fantasy league team. Strong-selling, Booker-shortlisted literary darlings the Smiths (Zadie and Ali)? Check. Queen of the Victorian lesbo-romp and TV adaptation, Sarah Waters? Check. Bestselling (beyond) black humour from Hilary Mantel? Check. A Richard and Judy book club protégée, Nicole Krauss? Check. A virtually unknown Australian - and former park ranger - first-time novelist? Uh, check?</p><p>This is where the undoubtedly deserving and heavy weight but oh-so predictable shortlist gets a bit screwy. Carrie Tiffany, the mysterious sixth entrant into the battle... who?</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2006/apr/26/whoiscarriet">Continue reading...</a>Awards and prizesBooksCultureWed, 26 Apr 2006 12:05:36 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2006/apr/26/whoiscarrietMichelle Pauli2006-04-26T12:05:36ZAn audience with Lord Bragghttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2006/apr/13/braggsdozen
<p>The odds were against Melvyn Bragg. To start with, the microphone didn't work. Then the projection screen got stuck on its opening image, a huge grinning photo of Bragg that made him look like a successful but lonely aluminium cladding salesman. Finally the man himself appeared and stepped straight into a red spotlight, giving the impression that a pantomime had somehow begun. You could understand if the organisers at the Broxbourne Civic Hall felt nervous.</p><p>They needn't have worried. Lord Bragg is an old pro, and eats hitches like this for breakfast. Besides, he had a new title to promote, and soon got stuck in to <a href="http://books.theguardian.com/departments/classics/story/0,,1744739,00.html">Twelve Books That Changed the World</a>, a journey round a dozen British publications which, Bragg claims, substantially altered the world as we experience it every day. The selection ranges from Shakespeare's First Folio to the original rulebook of the FA, and includes several titles that aren't really books at all, such as the Magna Carta and Joseph Arkwright's patent for the spinning machine. The list is deliberately contentious, and Bragg was quick to emphasize that these are his own "twelve books", rather than "the twelve books" of all time.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2006/apr/13/braggsdozen">Continue reading...</a>Awards and prizesBooksCultureMelvyn BraggThu, 13 Apr 2006 09:05:02 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2006/apr/13/braggsdozenNick Tanner2006-04-13T09:05:02ZPortraits of the artisthttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2006/mar/24/portraitsofth
<p><br>Vision of sadness ... Virginia Woolf<br>Photograph: AP</p><p>For most readers, "Bloomsbury" conjures up a vague impression of a group of writers and artists sitting in rooms with large windows discussing the novel and stroking each other's spouses. Maggie Humm, a professor of cultural studies at the University of East London, knows better than this. Her new book, Snapshots of Bloomsbury, uses photographs by <a href="http://books.theguardian.com/authors/author/0,5917,-144,00.html">Virginia Woolf</a> and her sister Vanessa Bell to get inside this clique of cliques. Along the way, she also attempts to tell the story of domestic photography itself, and to rescue Woolf from the reputation of having the saddest face in the world.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2006/mar/24/portraitsofth">Continue reading...</a>Awards and prizesBooksCultureFri, 24 Mar 2006 16:50:56 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2006/mar/24/portraitsofthNick Tanner2006-03-24T16:50:56ZGladwell tidingshttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2006/mar/20/gladwelltiding
Say what you like about Malcolm Gladwell, he's certainly a phenomenon. His first book, The Tipping Point, sold several million copies worldwide, and his second, Blink: the Power of Thinking Without Thinking, is currently repeating the process. The new book is about is about the 'blink' moment that occurs whenever we encounter something new, and the first impression created by Gladwell himself at the Royal Festival Hall's Purcell Room on March 15 was that of a shy university lecturer asked to address a farmers' convention. He looked nervous, wrung his slender hands, and took a while to get into his flow. When he did, however, he became relaxed and funny as, crouched beneath his massive and justly famous haircut, he guided the audience through the story of his big ideas.<p><br>Malcolm Gladwell: quite some hair.<br> Photograph: Getty Images<br>Say what you like about <a href="http://www.gladwell.com">Malcolm Gladwell</a>, he's certainly a phenomenon. His first book, <a href="http://books.theguardian.com/reviews/roundupstory/0,,647095,00.html">The Tipping Point</a>, sold several million copies worldwide, and his second, <a href="http://books.theguardian.com/review/story/0,,1416846,00.html">Blink: the Power of Thinking Without Thinking</a>, is currently repeating the process. The new book is about is about the 'blink' moment that occurs whenever we encounter something new, and the first impression created by Gladwell himself at the <a href="http://www.rfh.org.uk/main/index.asp">Royal Festival Hall's Purcell Room</a> on March 15 was that of a shy university lecturer asked to address a farmers' convention. He looked nervous, wrung his slender hands, and took a while to get into his flow. When he did, however, he became relaxed and funny as, crouched beneath his massive and justly famous haircut, he guided the audience through the story of his big ideas.</p><p>These ideas draw on sources ranging from psychological studies to chats with car salesman, and explore how we can, as he puts it, "learn to improve the quality of the decisions we make". When questioned by the host, Robert McCrum, Gladwell was quick to deny any "over-arching theory of ideas" in his work; instead, his approach is to gather material of interest, combine that with his own anecdotal experience, and present the findings in a blend of high science, journalistic plainness and discreet self-help. The combination is a seductive one, and works even better in person: Gladwell is funny, inquisitive and sincere. One of his stories was about a meeting with an animal psychologist called Cesar, who could tame even the most savage of dogs. There was genuine glee on Gladwell's face as he recounted his discovery, after watching hours of video tape, of how Cesar's body language enabled him to do this: "He was dancing".</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2006/mar/20/gladwelltiding">Continue reading...</a>Awards and prizesBooksCultureMon, 20 Mar 2006 12:05:39 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2006/mar/20/gladwelltidingNick Tanner2006-03-20T12:05:39ZUnder the weatherhttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2006/mar/09/undertheweath
In the forum held on March 6 at St Paul's to launch his new book, The Weather Makers, Tim Flannery wisely allowed his message to do the talking, and it spoke with an urgent eloquence. Mankind, Flannery believes, is changing the climate of the planet, and unless this dilemma is addressed, it's curtains for all of us.<p><br>Terrible weather ... The cover of Flannery's<br> book<br>It's hard to make a big impression in St Paul's. The place is so vast, the stone pillars so towering, that onceyou're inside it's difficult to remember that you yourself exist, let alone win the attention of a crowd. But this is what the Australian climatologist Tim Flannery had come to do, and in the forum held on March 6 to launch his new book, <a href="http://www.penguin.co.uk/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,0_0713999217,00.html">The Weather Makers</a>, he wisely didn't attempt to compete with the architecture. Instead, this softly spoken scientist allowed his message to do the talking, and it spoke with an urgent eloquence. Mankind, Flannery believes, is changing the climate of the planet, and unless this dilemma is addressed, it's curtains for all of us.</p><p>St Paul's was packed, and the hundreds of listeners of all ages spoke more emphatically than the grandeur of the setting of the urgency of the subject in hand. Dwarfed by the Byzantine gold of the chancel mosaics, Professor Flannery picked his way through some of the key questions in the climate debate, including how it has been possible for mankind to influence something so vast as the atmosphere, and what individuals and governments can do to bring about change. A lively communicator on the page, in person Flannery is quiet and understated. On the question of our love of cars contributing to the melting of the ice caps, he remarked simply, "that seems like a very poor trade indeed to me". He wasn't here to bellow doom from the pulpit; with his white collarless shirt and balding pate he looked more like an endangered polar bear.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2006/mar/09/undertheweath">Continue reading...</a>Awards and prizesBooksCultureTim FlanneryThu, 09 Mar 2006 10:23:20 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2006/mar/09/undertheweathNick Tanner2006-03-09T10:23:20ZA play with firehttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2006/feb/24/aplaywithfir
<p><br>Hanif Kureishi. Photo: Jane Bown<br><em>In the first in a new series of reviews of live literary events, Nick Tanner reports on a reading of Borderline, <a href="http://books.theguardian.com/authors/author/0,5917,-100,00.html">Hanif Kureishi</a>'s 1981 play, at the Royal Court, as part of the theatre's 50th birthday celebrations.</em></p><p>Riz Ahmed told a funny story on Tuesday night. Last week, he had been returning from the Berlin Film Festival, where The Road to Guantánamo, a new docudrama in which he appears about three men from Tipton held for two years in the American prison in Cuba, had just received the prestigious Silver Bear Award. With Ahmed on the easyJet flight were three fellow actors who also play al-Qaida suspects in the film, as well as two of the real-life suspects, Shafiq Rasul and Rhuhel Ahmed. On landing at Luton airport, the actors were detained by police officers under the counter-terrorism act, and questioned about their own beliefs and the political motivations behind the film. Riz Ahmed reported having a phone twisted out of his hand by an officer as he attempted to call a lawyer, and in a statement said that another had called him a "fucker". Eventually the whole party was released without charge (<a href="http://film.theguardian.com/news/story/0,,1714282,00.html">you can read the full story here</a>).</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2006/feb/24/aplaywithfir">Continue reading...</a>Awards and prizesBooksCultureJane BownFri, 24 Feb 2006 15:39:23 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2006/feb/24/aplaywithfirNick Tanner2006-02-24T15:39:23ZLevy named Orange 'best of the best'https://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2005/oct/03/levynamedoran
<p><a href="http://books.theguardian.com/review/story/0,12084,1146440,00.html">Small Island</a>, Andrea Levy's humane, generous exploration of post-war England through the eyes of two couples, one English and one Jamaican, has been <a href="http://books.theguardian.com/news/page/0,8097,1583857,00.html">chosen from the 10 winners of the Orange Prize for Fiction</a> for the 'best of the best' award. The award was conceived to celebrate 10 years of Orange Prize, which has overcome the controversy sparked at its inception by its woman-only policy to become one of the UK's most prestigious literary prizes. It was judged by the chairs of previous Orange judging panels and chaired by Kate Mosse, the award's co-founder and honorary director.</p><p>At this evening's ceremony at the Lyric Theatre in London, a delighted-looking Levy - who beat Carol Shields, Linda Grant and Ann Patchett, among others, to the gong - was presented with a silver statuette in honour of the occasion. After congratulating Levy on her win, Mosse went on to describe the new award as "a fantastic way to celebrate 10 years of exceptional women's fiction and mark the achievements of the Orange Prize," and "a great opportunity to introduce a new generation of readers to some of the outstanding novels they may have missed first time round."</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2005/oct/03/levynamedoran">Continue reading...</a>Awards and prizesBooksCultureAndrea LevyMon, 03 Oct 2005 19:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2005/oct/03/levynamedoranSarah Crown2005-10-03T19:00:00ZThe Orange revolutionhttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2005/oct/03/theorangerevo
<p>Literary ladies rejoice - today marks a landmark in women's fiction. 10 years on from its inception, the chairs of the judging panels from each year of the <a href="http://www.orangeprize.co.uk/">Orange Prize for Fiction</a> are meeting in London tonight to <a href="http://books.theguardian.com/orange2005/story/0,15850,1583814,00.html">pick the 'best of the best'</a> of a decade of Orange prize-winners.</p><p>Despite markedly inauspicious beginnings (the very first question the prize's founder, Kate Mosse, had to field at the launch of the prize - from a tabloid newspaper editor, no less - was "Are you a lesbian?"), the £30,000 prize has confounded its critics and risen to become the UK's third most prestigious literary gong, after the Booker and the Whitbreads. It was the first award to recognise the achievement of <a href="http://books.theguardian.com/review/story/0,12084,1146440,00.html">Andrea Levy's Small Island</a>, which subsequently went on to be named Whitbread Book of the Year, and has honoured established authors such as Carol Shields as well as <a href="http://books.theguardian.com/orange2005/0,15850,1437421,00.html">whipping up controversy this year</a> with its selection of Lionel Shriver's harrowing take on motherhood, We Need To Talk About Kevin. You can see the full list of previous winners <a href="http://www.orangeprize.co.uk/pastwinners/index.html">here</a>. I believe I may have mentioned in an earlier post that my vote goes to the 2002 winner, Bel Canto, Ann Patchett's sublime story of love, terrorism and opera - which is your favourite? We'll post here with the result as soon as we have it.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2005/oct/03/theorangerevo">Continue reading...</a>Awards and prizesBooksCultureMon, 03 Oct 2005 10:47:43 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2005/oct/03/theorangerevoSarah Crown2005-10-03T10:47:43ZOrange alerthttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2005/sep/23/orangealert1
<p>It's the Orange prize's 10th birthday this year, and in honour of the anniversary, Orange is going to award a 'best of the best' prize to the book that receives the most votes from the public. There are some great titles in there, each of which have been summarised and argued for on Radio 4's Woman's Hour over the last week or so. You can vote for your favourite on the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/books_best_about.shtml">Woman's Hour website</a>. The Vulture has just cast her ballot for the 2002 winner, Bel Canto, Ann Patchett's <a href="http://books.theguardian.com/reviews/generalfiction/0,,521254,00.html">wonderful, alluring siege-story</a> of art, love, politics and the ability of people to turn the most unlikely situation into a paradise. If you haven't read it, do so immediately - and don't forget to vote ...</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2005/sep/23/orangealert1">Continue reading...</a>Awards and prizesBooksCultureAnn PatchettFri, 23 Sep 2005 09:58:42 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2005/sep/23/orangealert1Sarah Crown2005-09-23T09:58:42ZWhitbread judges announcedhttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2005/sep/15/whitbreadjudge
<p>Whitbread has just announced the judging panels for its 2005 awards. As ever, the prestigious awards have attracted some big names: John Humphrys, Margaret Drabble and Linda Newbery have all volunteered to stay up late and tackle the 476 books entered this year - the highest number ever, apparently - along with comedy writer and performer Arabella Weir, and the Guardian's own Susanna Rustin. You can see the judging panels <a href="http://books.theguardian.com/whitbread2005/story/0,16517,1570654,00.html">in full here</a>. The category shortlists will be announced on November 16, but the category winners and 'Book of the Year' announcements don't happen until January.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2005/sep/15/whitbreadjudge">Continue reading...</a>Awards and prizesBooksCultureThu, 15 Sep 2005 10:58:34 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2005/sep/15/whitbreadjudgeSarah Crown2005-09-15T10:58:34ZFirst and foremosthttps://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2005/aug/25/firstandforem
<p>The <a href="http://books.theguardian.com/fba2005/story/0,16340,1555964,00.html">Guardian First Book Award longlist</a> came out today - 10 books, a mix of fiction, non-fiction and poetry, all by first time authors. Many of the books on the list have already done well this year - Diana Evans' story of identical twins, 26A, won the <a href="http://www.orangeprize.co.uk/oanw05/index.html">Orange award for new writing</a>; Alexander Masters' Stuart: A Life Backwards and Suketu Mehta's Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found were both <a href="http://books.theguardian.com/samueljohnson2005/">shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson prize</a>; Tash Aw is already on the <a href="http://books.theguardian.com/bookerprize2005/">Booker longlist</a> for The Harmony Silk Factory, and Nick Laird is in contention for the <a href="http://books.theguardian.com/forwardprize2005/">Forward prize for best first collection</a> with his debut, To a Fault. The shortlist will be announced on November 3; in the meantime, <a href="http://books.theguardian.com/fba2005/">read reviews and extracts from the longlisted books</a> on our special report.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2005/aug/25/firstandforem">Continue reading...</a>Awards and prizesBooksCultureThu, 25 Aug 2005 11:38:57 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/culture/culturevultureblog/2005/aug/25/firstandforemSarah Crown2005-08-25T11:38:57Z